THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL MOTIVATION FACTORS, SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS AND COMMUNICATION CHANNELS IN FREQUENCY OF DONATIONS TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Long-term trends indicate a steady increase in the number and importance of non-profit organizations in the community, which means increased competition, a market-oriented approach and a relentless struggle for less available financial resources. In the overall structure of funding sources, donations from individual donors play a significant role. Therefore, this research aims to determine the role of socio-demographic characteristics, external motivation factors, and communication channels in individual donors' donation frequency. Empirical research was conducted on a sample of individual donors in Croatia. The results show a statistically significant difference in the donation frequency in relation to self-assessment of the external motivational factors rewards, nonprofit leadership, personal gain and future interests. The highest mean rank for external motivational factors is shown in the group of frequent donors. The differences were not determined for the factors environment, motivation, trust, organizational and user characteristics. For socio-demographic factors, differences among groups by donation frequency are determined by gender, age and employment status. Results showed no significant differences in the level of education. Finally, a significant difference was confirmed for communication channels usage, with a higher mean rank for donors using social networks than traditional channels. These results contribute to the existing body of knowledge of donors' behavior in the context of fundraising success, whose performance is one of the essential prerequisites for the sustainability of the non-profit sector.